1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an amusement system having a typing practice function and a typing practice system.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a system of this type, there is known a system of scrolling input elements such as characters, words numeric values in a predetermined direction, and then, requesting a user to input these elements in accordance with a tempo according to the scroll (for example, refer to Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. 56-134058 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 3-69113). In addition, in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 3-69113, there is disclosed a system of scrolling the words of a song as input elements in accordance with a melody corresponding thereto. According to these systems, a scroll display is adopted, whereby a plurality of input elements are displayed one after another, and thus, typing practice can be continued rhythmically. Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-15589, there is disclosed a system in which information such as characters and marks is displayed in a dynamic image for a predetermined period of time, during which an input corresponding to such information is requested, thereby imparting tension to a user (hereinafter, referred to as a typist); and a game feeling is imparted to an inputting practice.
However, these typing practice systems fail to provide a user with information concerning which finger is used to type each character, and the user cannot master a manner of using fingers for typing.
In contrast, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-15588, there is disclosed a system in which a region corresponding to each finger by one-to-one is provided on a picture for instructing an input operation to the user, and the input elements such as characters and marks to be inputted by each finger are displayed on a region that corresponds to each finger.
The typing practice system in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-15588 displays a character as an input element in any one of a plurality of regions corresponding to each finger. This system performs an alternative and intermittent display that, when such element is inputted, a next input element is displayed. Therefore, the user is not notified a next character to be inputted unless one character has been inputted. Thus, it is relatively difficult to require a continuously key operation of the user. That is, the user in a conventional typing practice system can master which key should be operated by which finger, but cannot practice well that a plurality of characters are continuously inputted by a correct typing position. In such a situation, the user cannot master typing efficiently. In addition, a monotonous instruction is likely to lack amusement and make the user bored.
In view of the aforementioned circumstance, it is an object of the present invention to provide an amusement system and a typing practice system capable of efficiently mastering typing, and further, enhancing amusement concerning typing practice.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described. For a better understanding of the present invention, reference numerals of the accompanying drawings are designated with parentheses, which does not mean that the present invention is limited to the illustrative embodiments.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an amusement system comprising: an input device (5) having a plurality of operating portions (50 . . . 50) to be operated for typing, the input device being capable of outputting a signal that corresponds to the operation state of each operating portion; a display device (11) capable of displaying an image that corresponds to an inputted video signal; and a control device (2) capable of instructing an operation of the input device through the display device, wherein the control device comprises: a device for displaying on a screen of the display device an operation instructing portion (111) at which a plurality of regions associated with each finger of a user who operates the input device are provided in a visually identifiable mode; a device for displaying in the respective regions an instructive mark (130) for specifying the operating portion to be operated by a finger associated with each of the regions; and a device for relatively scrolling the instructive mark and a predetermined reference mark (123) in a predetermined direction, and then, instructing an operation time of the operating portion specified by each instructive mark based on a positional relationship between the instructive mark and the reference mark.
According to this amusement system, since a region for instructing an operation for each finger is provided in a visually identifiable mode, the user can easily grasp which finger is to be used to operate for each operating portion through a relationship between the instructive mark and a region. Since the instructive mark and reference mark are relatively scrolled to indicate an operation time, it is possible to cause the user to grasp a situation in which the operation time is gradually close according to such scroll, thereby allowing the user to perform a practice in conformance with actual input environment in which the user can continue typing while grasping a future input content in advance. A plurality of instructive marks are sequentially displayed while the time is shifted relevant to each region, whereby the user can be requested to sequentially operate each operating portion with a finger that corresponds to respective regions. Therefore, there can be provided an environment in which the user can practice typing efficiently. Difficulty in operation can be changed within a relatively wide range according to disposition of instructive marks or appearance frequency thereof, and the degree of freedom concerning an instruction for operation is high, making it easy to enhance amusement concerning such instruction for operation.
In the above described amusement system, each region may be visually identified by partitioning lines (121 . . . 121) displayed on the screen, for example or may be identified by switching colors or patterns for each region. The instructive mark may be expressed in various modes such as characters or marks. The reference mark may be a reference line perpendicular to the scroll direction. The reference line may be represented to extend over a plurality of regions.
In the amusement system of the present invention, the plurality of regions may extend in parallel to each other in the predetermined direction on the screen of the display device, and the scroll may be performed in the along the predetermined direction. In such an embodiment, the plurality of regions is arranged neatly in one direction on the screen of the display device, so that the user can grasp easily an instruction for operation relevant to each finger. The predetermined direction may be a vertical direction. In the case of scrolling in the vertical direction, each region is arranged in a transverse direction, and the arrangement direction of the user""s fingers placed on the input device is coincident with the region arrangement direction. Therefore, it is possible to give the user a clearer instruction for each finger.
The plurality of regions may extend in parallel to each other in a vertical direction of the screen of the display device and a display position of the reference mark may be fixed to a lower end of the operation instructing portion, so that the instructive mark may be scrolled from the top to the bottom toward the reference mark.
In general, an input device such as a personal computer is placed below the display device. Thus, if it is determined that an operating portion corresponding to such instructive mark has to be performed at a timing when the instructive mark to be scrolled from the top to the bottom of the screen reaches the reference mark at the lower end of the operation instruction portion, the user can grasp operation most naturally in view of the disposition of the display device and input device.
The plurality of regions may be arranged in the same order as the arrangement order of each finger. In this case, the user can easily grasp a correlation between each region and each finger.
Images (15A to 125I) for identifying the fingers, each of which is associated with each region, may be included in the plurality of regions, respectively. In this manner, a correlation between each region and each finger can be grasped easily and intuitively.
Images (125A to 125I), each of which simulates at least tip end of a finger associated with each region, may be displayed for the plurality of regions, respectively. In this case, the user can grasp easily and intuitively a correlation between each region and each finger.
When the operating portion of the input device is operated, at least a part of the region corresponding to the operated operating portion of the plurality of regions may be displayed in a mode different from other regions. In this case, information concerning which operating portion corresponding to which region was operated is fed back to the user, thus making it possible to easily discriminate whether or not the user has operated an operating portion correctly in accordance with the instruction of an instructive mark.
When an operating portion of the input device is operated, an image simulating at least tip end of the finger displayed in a region that corresponds to the operated operating portion of the plurality of regions may be changed. In this case as well, information concerning which operating portion corresponds to which region was operated is fed back to the user, thus making it possible to easily and intuitively discriminate whether the user has operated the operating portion correctly in accordance with the instruction of the instructive mark.
Character specific to each operating portion may be assigned one by one to the plurality of operating portions, respectively, and the instructive mark may include a mark (132) indicative of each character assigned to the operating portion to be operated. In this case, characters to be inputted can be indicated to the user easily and intuitively.
The control device may compare an operation instructed via the display device and an actual user""s operation, and may display information (for example, 113a and 113b shown in FIG. 5) indicative of the evaluation result on the display device. In this case, the user can judge objectively whether or not a self-operation is proper by referring to the information indicative of the evaluation result.
The control device may sum up the evaluation for each finger in a predetermined practice range, and may cause the display device to display information according to a summation result (for example, 175a shown in FIG. 24). Further, the control device may cause the display device to display information (reference numeral 175a shown in FIG. 24) for specifying a lowest evaluated finger in the practice range as the information according to the summation result. In these cases, the user can recognize which finger is inferior in the operation, and the user can be prompted to practice such operation. Of course, a finger superior in operation may be taught.
An amusement system may comprise a sound output device (13) capable of producing a sound that corresponds to an input of a sound signal and a storage medium (15) that stores music number data for reproducing a predetermined music via the sound output device, and the control device may reproduce by the sound output device a music that corresponds to the music number data on the storage medium, and may execute the scroll for a tempo of the music in synchronism with the music. In this case, since a typing practice can be performed according to the music, it is possible to cause the user to make operation rhythmically and to make typing practice more enjoyable, to thereby attract the user""s interest strongly.
When the operating portion of the input device is operated, the control device may superimpose on the music a sound effect to be harmonized therewith, and may cause such sound to be outputted from the sound output device. Thus, it is possible to cause the user to advance a typing practice while having a feeling as if he or her performs the music, to thereby eliminating resistance with respect to the typing practice while attracting the user""s interest strongly.
A sound output device (13) capable of producing a sound that corresponds to an input of a sound signal may be provided, and when the operating portion of the input device is operated, the control device may cause the sound output device to output a sound that corresponds to the character assigned to the operated operating portion.
In this case, in response to an operation of the operating portion, the character assigned to that operating portion is pronounced. Thus, the user can easily grasp whether or not operation is proper from a comparison between the content of the pronunciation and the character displayed by the instructed mark.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an amusement system comprising: an input device (5) having a plurality of operating portions (50 . . . 50) to which specific characters are assigned one by one, the input device being capable of outputting a signal that corresponds to an operation state of each operating portion; a display device (11) capable of displaying an image that corresponds to an inputted video signal; and a control device (2) capable of instructing an operation of the input device through the display device, wherein the control device comprises: a device for selecting a first practice mode or a second practice mode in accordance with a predetermined condition; a device for, in the case where the first practice mode is selected, displaying on a screen of the display device an operation instructing portion (111) at which a plurality of regions associated with each finger of a user who operates the input device are provided in a visually identifiable mode; a device for displaying in the respective regions an instructive mark (130) for specifying a character to be inputted by a finger associated with each of the regions, one by one; a device for relatively scrolling the instructive mark for specifying the character and a predetermined reference mark (123) in a predetermined direction, and then, indicating a time when the character specified for each instructive mark is to be inputted based on a positional relationship between the instructive mark and the reference mark; a device for, in the case where the second practice mode is selected, displaying on the screen of the display device an instructive mark (140) for specifying a word to be inputted by operating an operating portion of the input device several times; and a device for relatively scrolling an indicative mark for specifying the word and a predetermined reference mark (123) in a predetermined direction, and then, indicating a time limit by when the word specified by the instructive mark is to be inputted based on a positional relationship between the instructive mark and the reference mark.
According to this system, when in the first practice mode, a typing practice is performed in a manner similar to the aforementioned amusement system as the first aspect of the present invention. In this case, each character is inputted according to an instruction, so that the user can learn the position of the operating portion that corresponds to each character on the input device and the finger that should operate each operating portion. In the second practice mode, it is required to input a word by a predetermined time limit, and thus, the practice can be performed so that the word can be inputted smoothly by using a memory concerning an arrangement of the operating portion or a way to use the fingers memorized in the first practice mode. With a combination of these practice modes, the user can make typing practice efficiently from a beginner level to a high level.
In the amusement system of the second aspect, each of the instructive marks for specifying the character and the instructive mark for specifying the word may be respectively scrolled in the vertical direction of the screen of the display device. According to such an embodiment, in the case where a word including, for example, Roman characters, is expressed in a horizontal form, the character string arrangement direction is perpendicular to the scroll direction, so that a character string constituting a word can be appeared at once on the screen. Therefore, the word can be easily visualized in comparison with a case the character string is scrolled in its arrangement direction.
A sound output device (13) capable of producing a sound that corresponds to an input of a sound signal and a storage medium (15) that stores music number data for reproducing a predetermined music via the sound output device may be provided, in each of the first practice mode and the second practice mode, a music corresponding to the music number data on the storage medium may be reproduced by the sound output device, and the scroll may be executer according to a tempo of the music in synchronism with the reproduction of the music. In this case, the typing practice can be performed in time with the music. Thus, the user can make the operation rhythmically, making typing practice more enjoyable.
Further, the first practice mode and the second practice mode may be switched to each other during reproduction of one music number. In this case, the practices in accordance with the first and second practice modes are repeated alternately in time with the music, and typing can be mastered efficiently.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable storage medium (15) applied to an amusement system configured as a computer (1) comprising: an input device (5) having a plurality of operating portions (50 . . . 50) to be operated for typing, the input device being capable of outputting a signal that corresponds to an operation state of each operating portion; a display device (11) capable of displaying an image that corresponds to an inputted video signal; and a control device (2) capable of instructing an operation of the input device through the display device, wherein a program is recorded to cause the control device to execute the steps of: displaying on a screen of the display device an operation instructing portion (111) at which a plurality of regions (120A to 120I) associated with each finger of a user who operates the input device are provided in a visually identifiable mode; displaying in the respective regions an instructive mark (130) for specifying an operating portion to be operated by a finger associated with each of the regions; and relatively scrolling the instructive mark and a predetermined reference mark (123) in a predetermined direction, and then, indicating an operation time of an operating portion specified by each instructive mark based on a positional relationship between the instructive mark and the reference mark.
According to this storage medium, it is possible to allow the computer to serve as the amusement system of the first aspect of the present invention by loading the program recorded on the storage medium into the control device and then executing it.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable storage medium (15) applied to an amusement system configured as a computer (1) that comprises: an input device (5) having a plurality of operating portions (50 . . . 50) to which specific characters are assigned one by one, the input device being capable of outputting a signal that corresponds to an operation state of each operating portion; a display device (11) capable of displaying an image that corresponds to an inputted video signal; and a control device (2) capable of instructing an operation of the input device through the display device, wherein a program is recorded to cause the control device to execute the steps of: selecting a first practice mode or a second practice mode in accordance with a predetermined condition; displaying, in the case where the first practice mode is selected, on a screen of the display device an operation instructing portion (111) at which a plurality of regions (120A to 120I) associated with each finger of a user who operates the input device are provided in a visually identifiable mode; displaying in the respective regions an instructive mark (130) for specifying a character to be inputted by a finger associated with each of the regions, one by one; relatively scrolling an instructive mark for specifying the character and a predetermined reference mark (123) in a predetermined direction, and then, indicating a time when a character specified for each instructive mark is to be inputted based on a positional relationship between the instructive mark and the reference mark; displaying, in the case where the second practice mode is selected, on the screen of the display device an instructive mark (140) for specifying a word to be inputted by operating an operating portion of the input device several times; and relatively scrolling the instructive mark for specifying the word and a predetermined reference mark (123) in a predetermined direction, and then, indicating a time limit by when a word specified by the instructive mark is to be inputted based on a positional relationship between the instructive mark and the reference mark.
According to this storage medium, it is possible to allow the computer to serve as the amusement system of the second aspect of the present invention by loading the program recorded in the storage medium into the control device, and then executing it.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a typing practice system comprising: an input device (5) having a plurality of operating portions (50 . . . 50) to be operated for typing, the input device being capable of outputting a signal that corresponds to an operation state of each operating portion; a display device (11) capable of displaying an image that corresponds to an inputted video signal; and a control device (2) capable of instructing an operation of the input device through the display device, wherein the control device comprises: a device for displaying on a screen of the display device an operation instructing portion (111) at which a plurality of regions (120A to 121I) associated with each finger of a user who operates the input device are provided in a visually identifiable mode; a device for displaying in the respective regions an instructive mark (130) for specifying an operating portion to be operated by a finger associated with each of the regions; a device for relatively scrolling the instructive mark and a predetermined reference mark (123) in a predetermined direction, and then, indicating an operation time of the operating portion specified by each instructive mark based on a positional relationship between the instructive mark and the reference mark.
In addition, according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a typing practice system comprising: an input device (5) having a plurality of operating portions (50 . . . 50) operated for typing, the input device being capable of outputting a signal that corresponds to an operation state of each operating portion; a display device (11) capable of displaying an image that corresponds to an inputted video signal; and a control device (2) capable of instructing an operation of the input device through the display device, wherein the control device comprises: a device for selecting a first practice mode or the second practice mode in accordance with a predetermined condition; a device for, in the case where the first practice mode is selected, displaying on a screen of the display device an operation instructing portion (111) at which a plurality of regions associated with each finger of a user who operates the input device are provided a visually identifiable mode; a device for displaying in the respective regions an instructive mark (130) for specifying a character to be inputted by a finger associated with each of the regions, one by one; a device for relatively scrolling the instructive mark for specifying the character and a predetermined reference mark (123) in a predetermined direction, and then, indicating a time when the character specified for each instructive mark is to be inputted based on a positional relationship between the instructive mark and the reference mark; a device for, in the case where the second practice mode is selected, displaying on the screen of the display device an instructive mark (140) for specifying a word to be inputted by operating an operating portion of the input device several times; and a device for relatively scrolling the instructive mark for specifying the word and a predetermined reference mark (123) in a predetermined direction, and then indicating a time limit by when the word specified by the instructive sigh is to be inputted based on a positional relationship between the instructive mark and the reference mark.
According to these typing practice systems, an advantageous effect similar to that of the above described amusement system can be provided.